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The grass is green, the sky is blue, and Lexi Huntington is intoxicating.
It’s familiar and foreign at once.
Lexi turns as the patio door slides open.
I don’t mean to stare at her ass, but I can’t help myself. My feelings for Lexi are pure. Well…they started pure.
Then Deanna steps into the backyard.Holy shit.That’s Deanna.
Lexi sighs, a tired sigh. Like she knows exactly why her sister is here and it isn’t good.
She looks like the Deanna I know, with the same black boots and wine-stained lips, but she looks different, too. Older, of course. Mature. She’s rocking a magenta suit and a sharp bob, and looking moreadult, too.
I see that side of her.
She’s tall, stylish, beautiful in an intense way.
She’d kill in New York.
She must do okay here.
“River.” Deanna smiles. “It’s good to see you.”
Wow, she had no trouble recognizing me at all. I feel myself grin, though I’m not sure why. It’s just Deanna. She paid more attention to me back then, she actually talked to me, of course she’d recognize me quicker. That’s all this is.
“River?” Lexi turns to me with shock in her eyes. “Really?”
I offer my most effortless shrug.
“How was your flight?” Deanna shifts her weight from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable in her heeled boots. But that isn’t what catches my attention, really. It’s the way her hands are fidgeting.
A sign of weakness. The first sign of weakness I’ve ever seen in her. Ever. The Deanna I knew was always tough and in control, as if nothing in the world could penetrate her defenses.
“Bumpy,” I say.
“Did you miss the sun?” she asks with a smirk.
I nod. She means Lexi. She must have looked at the birthday card I made. “And the warmth. Though it’s a bit chilly here today,” I say, giving her a pointed look, “with the clouds overhead.”
“How’s Ida?” Deanna asks, sensibly changing the topic. “I see her all the time, but she only talks about her books.”
“When do you ever see her?” Lexi jumps in. “You’re never at the pool.”
Grandma always loved to join the Huntingtons at their massive pool. I can’t believe she still does it.
“At the park,” Deanna says. “When I run hills. She walks them. But she hasn’t in a while. Is she okay?”
Lexi clears her throat.
Somehow, Deanna catches her meaning, whatever it is, because she says, “Well, tell her I’d love to go on a walk sometime. Or a hike. Not that I can keep up with her.”
“She’s faster?” Lexi asks.
“No, but she has more endurance,” Deanna says, then turns her attention back to me. “Are you two coming to the party? Oh, is Fern here? North?”
My brain takes a moment to process her question. It’s still trying to figure out what hidden conversation they’re having right in front of me.
“They’ll be here next week.” My sisters—technically cousins, but they are more like sisters to me—are on their way here for the same reason I came to visit. Grandma’s health is declining. Grandma doesn’t agree, but it’s three versus one. Four, if you count Aunt Briana.
